She eyes me for a moment, then sighs. “Fine. But for the record, I think you’re selling yourself short.”
“Noted and ignored.”
She laughs and shakes her head as our ride pulls up to the curb at Bo’s house. “Well, come on, let’s see where the night leads.”
2
WILL
“Last cup,” Nathan and I cheer in unison as our lacrosse teammates groan across the beer pong table.
They remove the second-to-last red cup Nathan just sank his ball into, and I line up my next shot—hopefully the last one of this round—as I shout over the music to tease them a bit before I throw the ball. “Don’t look so surprised, Decker. We’re undefeated for a reason.”
He snorts. “Whatever, Carter. Throw the damn ball.”
Before I can though, Nathan is elbowing me, completely throwing off my concentration. “Hey, isn’t Sydney the one with the foot fetish you hooked up with right before winter break?”
I huff out a laugh. “Yeah. Why are you reminding me of that right now? I’m trying to win us a game.” Maybe I should be a little more private with those things, but my roommates are used to me verbally processing things with them, and they don’t seem to care. If anything, they love to hear the shit I get myself into.
“Did you give her your usual ‘this is a one-time thing’ speech?” he checks.
I turn to him with a raised brow, one arm still in the air holding the ping-pong ball. “Of course.”
“Well, she’s been glaring daggers our way since she saw you from the top of the basement stairs a minute ago and is headed over here now. Big pissed-off girlfriend energy,” he warns, tipping his chin in the direction she must be.
I mutter, “You know I don’t do girlfriends,” before facing her way with my most welcoming smile as she approaches. “Hello, Sydney. How are you?”
“I was great until I just heard Harmony bragging about how amazing you were in bed,last night!” she seethes, emphasizing the timeline as if that’s relevant information.
“Oh, that was nice of her. Always good to hear positive feedback,” I respond in a joking manner. I’m not trying to be a dick, but I was very clear with her that our hookup would be a one-time thing, and she agreed before we even started. There’s no reason for her to be so upset at the news of me with someone else.
“I just thought…” She trails off, her expression morphing from anger to disappointment. Fuck. “I mean, we had so much fun, right?”
“Sure,” I agree easily. I’m not trying to kink shame her—I’ll try anything once—and just because her aggressively sucking my toes didn’t end up being my thing, it’s not why I have no interest in a repeat. This is college, the glory years and all that. Even if I do love to hook up, I’m not looking for a relationship, and I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.
Already learned that lesson once.
“So why are you so against doing it again?” she demands. Thankfully, no one is really paying attention to us, except for my teammates who are eagerly waiting for me to finish the game. “And why would you immediately turn around and sleep with my roommate as soon as we all got back to campus?”
Shit. I did think her apartment looked vaguely familiar. “First off, I didn’t know you lived together. But more importantly, we both agreed it was just for fun. I don’t owe you anything more.”
“Seriously? God, you’re such an asshole, Will!” she yells, and before I even know what’s happening, her drink is dripping down my face and covering my chest.
“Well, fuck,” I groan, wiping my eyes, which are stinging from the alcohol, before taking in the sight of my soaked shirt. Her drink must’ve been full because it’s practically see-through with how wet the white fabric is now.
Sydney storms off while everyone around me is laughing or murmuring to each other about what they just witnessed. So much for thinking they weren’t paying attention. Nathan claps a hand on my shoulder, still laughing. “Been a couple of years since you had a drink thrown in your face, hasn’t it?”
I sigh. “Yep, not since freshman year. That’s why I stopped doing repeats and started having the expectations talkbeforehookups in the first place. It’s worked so well until now.”
He tilts his head toward our teammates, who are still smirking at the other end of the table. “Want to let them play the next game?”
“Yeah. I might be able to pull off the no-shirt look, but we have our first weight session of the spring semester tomorrow morning, so we might as well head back. You okay just going home?” Nathan never protests leaving a party early, so I’m not surprised when he nods his agreement. “Cool. Let’s find Cam and see if he wants to join us, or at least tell him we’re heading out. Want to take a lap down here, and I’ll go look for him upstairs?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you up there in a minute.”
I turn to start making my way through the crowd of drunk college students dancing in the center of the basement as I head toward the stairs. I’m only half paying attention as I ascend the steps, looking out over the dark room for Cam, and I nearly miss a step as someone bumps into me. Their shoulder directly collides with my sternum, and he grunts, “Oof, hello?”
I steady myself, rubbing my chest where he hit me, andrealize I’m face-to-face with a guy holding a few drinks who’s now standing on the step above me. At least those didn’t spill on me too. He’s got shaggy white-blond hair and must be a good two or three inches shorter than I am. His deep blue eyes are lined with black, and he’s glaring right into my soul like I’ve done something to personally offend him. He has enough attitude etched into his face that I already feel like I’ve said the wrong thing before I’ve even opened my mouth.
